Amazon could win UK govt contract to store biometric data

07/05/19

The Home Office is preparing to hand Amazon a £300 million contract to store sensitive biometric data, according to a report in The Telegraph.

The Telegraph has learned that suppliers are being pressured to use Amazon's AWS cloud business, despite rivals bids from IBM, DXT Technology and Leidos. In response, the Home Office said that the biometrics programme contract was still open.

The Home Office is working on a programme to combine its immigration and police biometric databases of DNA, fingerprints and facial-matching information, in a project believed to worth GBP 300 million over 10 years.

A spokesman for Amazon Web Services said: “When customers, including the UK Government, use AWS they always own their data, and it does not move without their consent.”

This document details how the Home Office is using AWS for biometrics.

"Faced with the need to improve delivery efficiency, test capabilities and service performance, the Home Office’s Immigration Technology team selected the Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) hosting platform", writes the document.